In 2012, federal agencies scored some resounding wins and suffered some dramatic losses as well. The 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico led to the largest criminal penalty in the U.S. Justice Department’s history: $4.5 billion in fines and penalties (an amount that doesn’t count the ongoing civil case against BP PLC, which could generate billions more for the feds).
On the flip side, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lost its case on behalf of 200 women truck drivers who had alleged a long-standing pattern of sexual harassment. And a panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit handed the Food and Drug Administration a big loss when it sided with the tobacco industry in its suit to stop the FDA from mandating that graphic warning labels be included on cigarette packs.
